Water is a powerful medium for introspection. This truth is evident in the short story, 'Greasy Lake,' by T. Coraghessan Boyle. In this story, water serves as a catalyst for self-reflection, as it propels the protagonist into a certain degree of conflict, and ultimately works to reveal and confront the character?s inner struggle.
In 'Greasy Lake,' the dualism of the characters' nature is ever-present. They are self-proclaimed bad guys who 'cultivated decadence like a taste' (79). As the story progresses, however, it is revealed that just the opposite is true. While they are essentially caricatures of themselves, it is this dynamic that drives the story. Their tough exterior is just that, an exterior veneer that permeates their actions as 'dangerous characters.' The narrator is somewhat detached from the younger self of his story. It is an ironic detachment'a parody of his moral ignorance. He recalls the 'bad? antics of his youth: driving their 'parents' whining station wagons,' but doing so as bad as humanly possible, of course. He mocks both himself and his friends in his retrospection of their experience in Greasy Lake, the consummate locale of 'bad.' To the boys, the lake serves as a kind of haven for bad characters such as themselves. Truly, however, the lake is an extension of the dynamic between who the boys are and who they parade around as. It is here where the previous and false understanding about their world is shattered, and they are thrust into a moralistic reformation. Ultimately, the dichotomous nature of the protagonist is resolved by his visit to the lake, and perhaps, the lake itself.
Water proves to be significantly influential as it relates to..
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..ll he can do is suppress his urge to cry. The protagonist?s realization of his own maturity is ironic. Once so eager to appear ?bad,? but lacking the true essence of this word, the narrator has achieved this status at the price of his naivete, and wishes that he could return.
In ?Greasy Lake,? water is a powerful entity. The lake works to reveal the true nature of the narrator and his friends. Water is in itself the most influential character of the story. It submerges the protagonist, both physically and metaphorically, in his own mentality. The lake serves as a great equalizer. It creates and resolves conflict, all to force the narrator to confront his weakness and reveal his strength.
Works Cited
Boyle, T. Coraghessan. ?Greasy Lake.? Doubletakes: Pairs of Contemporary Short Stories.
Ed. T. Coraghessan Boyle. Boston: Wadsworth, 2004. 79-87
'Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston It was eleven o'clock of a Spring night in Florida. Any other night, Delia Jones would have been in bed for two hours by this time. Wilcom embroidery studio e2 torrent. Greasy Lake is a story of three boys becoming young men during one summer night. The young teens go for a summer vacation in an area near a shiny and muddy lake. The presence of barriers at the site threatens to overwhelm them as they work on a tension diffusion strategy.
The protagonist holds to his immature beliefs that by looking, acting and maintaining a false façade as a “dangerous character” (Boyle,114) it would bestow on him an the badness he desires. Additionally we see his rebelliousness, targeted at what he views as a life that is normal and boring. He rebels by dressing in punk style clothes, paid for by his parents.he read’s book’s by author such as André Gide (Boyle, 115) who was noted for works that explored conflict and rebellion. His behaviors and those of his friends are used to set themself’s outside of society , to be perceived as rebels .With their use of drugs ,drinking, cruising all night long and gliding off to the hoped for glory of Greasy Lake.They strike a pose of teenage rebellion ,all paid for by their parents. By being” expert in the social graces” (Boyle, 115) they are “slick and quick” (Boyle, 115) in an rebellious stand against what their parents want for them Thus the narrator of the story, as an older and more mature man, tells the story as an introspective look back at his misadventures. The protagonist begins to gain some insight into his possible future while in the “primordial ooze” (Boyle, 119) of Greasy lake .After finding the floating body and dealing with the destruction of his mothers battered station wagon he is mre reflective of the situation he is in. The narrator, looking back at
Greasy Lake Short Story Pdf
About Greasy Lake and Other Stories. Mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, The Washington Post Book World says these masterful stories mark T. Coraghessan Boyle‘s development from “a prodigy’s audacity to something that packs even more of a wallop: mature artistry.”They cover everything, from a terrifying encounter between a bunch of suburban adolescents and a murderous, drug. It is the third night of summer vacation, and the boys are dreadfully bored—Greasy Lake offers the possibility of danger, intoxication, and sex. The narrator and his friends Digby and Jeff (who, like the narrator, are teenagers benefiting from a comfortable, middle-class adolescence) take the narrator’s mother’s Bel Air out “past the. It is the third night of summer vacation, and the boys are dreadfully bored—Greasy Lake offers the possibility of danger, intoxication, and sex. The narrator and his friends Digby and Jeff (who, like the narrator, are teenagers benefiting from a comfortable, middle-class adolescence) take the narrator’s mother’s Bel Air out “past the.